Microsoft Teams

Connect your Microsoft 365 tenant, install Flow, and link a help desk channel. Use a standard channel for conversations that continue without repeated mentions. By default, employees can start personal conversations after adding Flow to Teams in a connected tenant. This guide and the bundled app package apply to production Flow at https://app.letsflow.ai. See Using Flow in Microsoft Teams for requests, files, and approvals after setup.

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Set up in four steps

Use the same four-step guide in Settings → Chat, 1st day setup, or Integrations → Add connection → Microsoft Teams. A Flow organization administrator manages setup in Flow. A Microsoft Global Administrator approves the tenant and app permissions. A Team owner adds Flow to the Microsoft Team. This short video shows the four guide screens in Flow.

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Connect your tenant

Flow reserves each Microsoft tenant for one Flow organization, and each organization for one tenant, until you disconnect it. A connection that needs attention still reserves that ownership. Review tenant transfer and disconnection before moving an existing connection. Setup started from Integrations returns to the Microsoft Teams integration page. You can also open that page from Integrations → Manage Microsoft Teams to review tenant verification, personal conversations, and channel links. Tenant connected confirms tenant verification; test each channel before use.

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Make Flow available in Microsoft Teams

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Check cloud support

Flow’s Teams integration uses Microsoft’s worldwide sign-in and Graph services. This boundary applies to tenant connection, channel messaging, file access, and personal conversations: Microsoft documents these differences in national cloud deployments. Uploading the app or granting consent does not change this support boundary.

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Channel types

Team privacy and channel type are separate settings. A private Microsoft Team can contain standard channels. A Private label on a Team does not establish an individual channel’s type. Check the channel itself. See Microsoft’s teams and channels overview.

• Standard: available to everyone in the Microsoft Team. Recommended for a Flow help desk.
• Private: available only to selected members of that Team. Flow does not support replies, progress cards, or approval cards here. Mentioning @Flow does not enable replies.
• Shared: has its own membership and can include people from other Teams or organizations. Flow currently supports only participants in the connected Microsoft tenant.

Channel type controls the audience. Posts and Threads only control the conversation layout; a standard channel can use either. Moving a help desk to a standard channel can expose its messages and files to more Team members. Review the audience before moving a real conversation. For shared channels, mention @Flow in each message that needs a reply, including follow-ups. Keep Channel messages and context enabled so Flow can read earlier messages when that mention arrives. Selecting Mentions only stops Flow from fetching earlier thread context. Both modes support attachments on messages Flow processes. Neither mode changes which events Microsoft delivers.

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App availability and private-channel replies

Microsoft’s shared/private app guide describes adding agent-enabled apps to private channels. Its separate bot conversation documentation states:

agents can’t post messages or Adaptive Cards in private channel conversations.

Adding the app and sending an @mention do not remove that posting restriction. Private-channel conversations remain unsupported by Flow, even if the app is visible there. This restriction does not apply to standard channels inside a private Team.

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Set up personal conversations

An employee who adds Flow personally can start a conversation after the tenant is connected. Starting a conversation before the employee messages Flow also requires administrator consent. Flow supports this first-contact installation in Microsoft 365 public cloud tenants. See the cloud support boundary before planning setup in a government or national cloud. Before testing, confirm that your Teams app policies allow Flow’s personal installation and messaging. If Microsoft Teams DM is not in Communication Channel, Flow cannot start a personal conversation with that requester. Check that personal conversations are on in Settings → Chat and that the requester has a verified employee identity in the connected tenant. Do not send a test reply to a requester who has not expected a message. Personal conversations are on by default. In Settings → Chat, an organization administrator can turn them off or restore them. Flow offers all active service teams to employees who pass the current identity and request-access checks. You do not need to enter a catalog ID or select service teams for personal access. Adding Flow in Teams does not give an employee access to a request or service team in Flow. See Personal conversations for request selection and private follow-up.

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Discover and link channels

You do not need to copy Microsoft Team or channel IDs. Flow labels shared and private channels beside their names and explains their restrictions in the channel-link dialog. Standard channels need no type label. Shared-channel first-mention acknowledgements also explain that each follow-up needs @Flow. If Microsoft does not return the type during discovery, the acknowledgement says it could not verify the type. The picker can retain a previously observed type. Binding independently verifies the type with Microsoft; the connected-channel list uses that verified value. Help and Hi prioritize a quick command response and include the discovery warning only when the lookup finishes in time. Check the channel-link dialog before saving the link. If the picker labels a channel Private, do not use it for Flow conversations. Choose a supported channel with the intended audience. Discovery and saving a link do not establish reply support. Use Link a channel in Settings → Chat or Integrations → Microsoft Teams. Select Refresh channels after the first mention, choose the Microsoft Team and channel, then select a conversation mode and save the link. If Flow shows Awaiting test mention, send @Flow connection test within 15 minutes. Confirm that Flow replies before sending your service request. Help and Hi receive their normal command response instead of a separate readiness reply. A successful test mention proves that Flow receives mentions in that channel. It does not prove unmentioned delivery. Before inviting users to a standard channel with Channel messages and context, ask Flow a question, then send a relevant follow-up without a mention and confirm that Flow answers in the same thread. In shared channels or with Mentions only, include @Flow in both messages. Flow records only the tenant, Team, channel coordinates, bounded display names, channel type, and observation time during discovery. It does not retain the discovery message or sender identity. Each Microsoft Teams channel can link to only one Flow team. A Flow team can have one active Microsoft Teams help desk channel.

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Conversation modes

These modes apply to supported standard and same-tenant shared channels. Neither mode enables private-channel replies. Attachment access is required in both modes. Flow checks it when you save the channel link. If Microsoft reports missing consent or denies file access, Flow shows Attachment access needs attention. You can continue setup. An incomplete check or a temporary service failure does not show this warning. Text conversations remain available after delivery verification. Resolve the file issue, then select Check again. This check does not disconnect the channel or repeat delivery verification. Read access does not guarantee that Teams delivers every unmentioned message to Flow. Use a standard channel for unmentioned follow-ups. If a follow-up gets no response, mention @Flow in the same thread. With recommended access, Flow reads the earlier thread messages before answering, including messages that did not notify the bot. Resource-specific consent applies only to the Microsoft Team where Flow is installed. Flow does not request tenant-wide Team.ReadBasic.All, Channel.ReadBasic.All, or AppCatalog.Read.All for channel discovery. The authenticated mention supplies the Team and channel coordinates, and Flow performs an exact Graph preflight before it activates the link.

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Permissions

See Permissions in Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams.

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Current limits

See Current limits in Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams.

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Related topics

• Using Flow in Microsoft Teams
• Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams
• Channels
• Flow teams
• Permissions